


Playing With Fire

by liralenli



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - BDSM, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, BDSM, Fire, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-25
Updated: 2012-05-01
Packaged: 2017-11-04 07:36:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/391365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liralenli/pseuds/liralenli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Umino Iruka does a public scene with his long time lover and very strong submissive, Hatake Kakashi.</p><p>This is set in Darkprism's Monoshizukanohi, with her permission. The story was the winner for the D/S Naruto contest on Y!Gallery and covered the themes of "leather" and "chastity" to some degree, but really, it's about the time I set one of Darkprism's characters on fire. Since I haven't been able to live that story down, I thought I'd just go with it and take it all the way, though, in this case, these are my takes on her takes of the characters in her world.  I take full responsibility for this depiction.</p><p>I do not own Naruto nor its characters, and I do not make any money from these writings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Research and Setting Up

Umino Iruka drove through the spring night, the interior of his Tesla roadster quiet. Streetlights flickered over the face of his passenger, and Iruka glanced over at Hatake Kakashi, trying to read the bartender's mood. The movement of light and shadow only served to obscure. Kakashi’s face was half-covered by a high leather collar, and in the sliding bars of illumination Iruka saw only Kakashi’s uncovered eye watching the road outside.

The white leather duster Kakashi wore over other accoutrements whispered and creaked whenever Iruka’s lover moved. Iruka swallowed on a suddenly dry mouth, knowing exactly what the pale folds hid.

Iruka turned his attention back to his driving, and the electric car surged forward, silent but for the sound of the wheels against the road. The blacktop was dry and bare, sometimes scatterings of petals would cloud the darkness: cherry, crabapple, plum, the trees were in full bloom. The winding mountain road twisted and turned its way to the cathedral of Bliss and the dungeons of Break beneath the shining battlements. The sprawl of Monoshizukanohi flung before them like a glittering pool of light and motion, ruby red rear lights flowing like blood cells bringing oxygen through the pulsing arteries of the city. The low-slung Roadster took the curves as if hugging rails, and Iruka frowned at the flood of second-guesses, fears, and uncertainties that flew through his head in the wake of uneasiness at Kakashi being so uncharacteristically silent.

It's going to be all right, Iruka thought to himself. All the thousand and two things he had orchestrated were going to work out. They both knew the risks, both knew the plan, and they were going to do this together.  Their first public Scene at Break was going to be exactly as Iruka wanted it to be. Caught up as he was in his own thoughts, Iruka was startled by a tentative touch on his thigh.  Iruka glanced down and saw Kakashi’s hand curled over Iruka’s thigh. Iruka silently, slowly, and very gently clasped Kakashi’s hand with his own. 

"I've got you, Kakashi," Iruka whispered.

"I know, Sir.  I know."

Kakashi's grip tightened, Iruka sighed and let go of all of his own baggage to make exactly one wish: _Please, God, allow me to always catch him in his need._

~*--*--*~

"Remind me, why am I doing this again?" Kakashi asked, sitting on the bed in their bedroom, eying the handful of silver gray leather that made up the bulk of his costume for the night.

"We made a deal," Iruka grunted, as he rolled on the last few inches of his dark blue leather pants.  Neji's tailor had fitted these pants to Iruka's build exactly, and the final waist hook fastener always took a few tries, especially with talcum slicked hands.

"I made dinner for a month of Saturdays.  I went on that crazy family vacation, which you did _not_ tell me it was going to end up being a cruise.  Stuck on a boat in the middle of the ocean with dozens of your family and most of the blessed police force, half of which wanted a piece of my ass and not in that fun way..."

Iruka let Kakashi's nearly absentmindedly aggrieved tones wash over him as he straightened to study his lover.

Kakashi's gray hair stood up in all directions, still damp from his shower. The muscles of his shoulders and chest were solid under pale skin, and shone smooth and utterly hairless.  Iruka itched to stroke the swimmer's build Kakashi had cultivated with regular workouts at home and at the Green Dojo. The spray of shrapnel scars along Kakashi's side was muted into dark spots by the warm lights in their bedroom, but when Kakashi turned to get something, Iruka saw the silver scars of what he and Kakashi would have sworn were marks left by the half-rotted materialization of a scorned demon woman.

Iruka moved on the bed, and Kakashi grunted and grew quiet when Iruka traced the half-moon curve of those cruel marks. What had looked like burned slashes wouldn't close and wept blood for days, until Iruka went to buy holy water to put on them, and then they'd closed up so quickly Iruka was left to ponder why. Still, the impromptu blessing had worked, and Iruka was glad to see Kakashi healed.

"I'm sorry the musk ox ate your hat," Iruka said quietly. "And that the glacier nearly calved on your kayak."

"In eight foot swells, mind you," Kakashi huffed.  "What kind of entertainment is that? A lapful of ice water, seals and whales and God knows what under the hull of a kayak, and..."

"You looked like you enjoyed the hula hoop contest, though, even with Granny Shizune in there with you," Iruka said dryly, remembering just how much of his family ended up chasing Kakashi all over the boat, clamoring for stories, games, and drinks. Whatever else Kakashi could do, the bartender certainly knew how to party.  "And I loved how all the the ship's bartenders let you have full run of their stock."

"They just wanted my recipes, and hell, they weren't going to turn down those tips." Kakashi's grin brightened suddenly. "And I loosened your cousin up with a few of my Slingshots."

"Sato..." Iruka shook his head.  "Did you have to dare him to jump the rail, though?"

Kakashi finally laughed, a full out belly-laugh that made Iruka smile.  "Yes, yes I did. I was surprised he did it, though. Didn't think he had the guts."

"It was very fortunate that you're just as good with your aim as you are with your mouth, my Sergeant," Iruka said with a wry smile, remembering everyone running around Kakashi in a panic until the ex-Special Forces solder calmly grabbed a life ring off the side of the boat and tossed it to the floundering boy.

Kakashi stilled. This close, Iruka could smell Kakashi's scent, mixed with traces of shaving gel, shampoo, and soap. The missing fragrances of Kakashi's habitual deodorant and aftershave made Iruka dizzy at the knowledge of Kakashi's obedience to the letter of Iruka's law.

Iruka took a slow, deep breath in and saw his motion mirrored by Kakashi.  Then slowly, ever so slowly, Iruka tilted his head and touched his mouth to Kakashi's, lips met and melded, and suddenly Iruka found himself crushing Kakashi with the force of his kiss, tongue plunging between suddenly pliant lips, and the vibration of both their groans lingering in the air. The damned tight leather pants reminded Iruka as to why this might not be such a great idea, and reluctantly Iruka pulled away, gratified to see that Kakashi was gasping for air nearly as desperately as he.

"That's why," Iruka said, voice rough, hands even rougher on Kakashi's arms. "My Kashi, you know I love you?"

Mismatched eyes flickered away and back, as Iruka saw Kakashi fighting. Iruka stroked gently along Kakashi's jawline, and Kakashi's gaze dropped to the floor. "Yes, Sir, I know that you love me."

"What do you think playing with you on the public stage at Break will do for who and what we are, my love?"

Kakashi drew a deep breath. "Let everyone know how much I'm... yours?"

"Partially," Iruka said. "You allow me to lead you into Break on a leash, and everyone knows that we play exclusively with each other in your room.  Break understands our relationship, but how many people do you know play with fire?"

"Nearly none at Break." Kakashi's tone grew distant, almost cold with disdain. "Haze did a lot of branding, using it to mark their slaves permanently, burned open cuts to scar, and some bastards used it directly to torture, but..."

"But they don't _play_ with it," Iruka interrupted. "We can use it to enhance an experience, working with the fear and the risk to make something extraordinary to delight us both.  What do you think of that?"

Kakashi chuckled and kissed Iruka lightly on the mouth.  "I think you're going to light my ass on fire, Sir, in front of hundreds of witnesses, and there are no words that are going to make that easy for me.  Still..." Kakashi paused and reached up to stroke Iruka's cheek with a tender touch. "I'd to anything for you, Sir, and..." Kakashi's gaze turned sly. "It doesn't hurt remembering that you promised me your ass after."

Laughing, Iruka shook his head in wonder at the mix of humor and subservience and wondering when it would be that Kakashi figured out exactly how much impact their play would have.  For now, he would let Kakashi have the diversion. "Good then."

"Damn all flexible Doms," Kakashi muttered, but a smile crinkled the edges of his eyes.  He couldn't be too panicked, then. Turning back to the bed and the rather small pile of leather, Kakashi nodded.  "All right, then, Sir, would you please help me get these damned things on?"

"Certainly."

~*--*--*~

Iruka had started his research two months before the public scene.

He deliberately scheduled a stage at Break for the week after St. Patrick's day.  It was the nowhere land of the calendar after the insanity of the holiday season, the rush of St. Valentine's, and before the summer heat and crowds.  He used the normal reservation system for the special substances stage at Break, the one that could handle everything from blood to controlled gasses. Since Iruka intended to have plenty of fire retardant equipment on hand, he wanted the stage that was easiest to clean.  He didn't mind Kakashi knowing when or where it would be, and with it on the standard schedule, Kakashi would know. None of this was intended as a surprise for his submissive; however, the day after Iruka scheduled the stage, Neji had called.

That was a surprise, but the offer Neji made was one he couldn't refuse, for Kakashi's sake.  In response, Iruka started even earlier than he'd initially intended with his experiments with fire.

The basements of the University's buildings were all connected by steam tunnels, and the rooms were bare concrete, riddled with pipes, conduit, wires, and shafts so that maintenance could get at everything easily.  Iruka found a locked room in the basement of the English department, the key held by the department's secretary.  He bribed Lucy with a box of dark chocolate covered salt caramels, and she handed him the key for the month.

The stainless steel lab bench was -- borrowed -- from the chemistry lab, along with a Bunsen burner.  All the other equipment Iruka brought himself.  Length of soft deerskin leather, dozens of metal and glass containers, bottles of various flammables, a can of foam hair mousse, half a dozen different kinds of rod, rolls of cotton batting, cotton gauze, asbestos camping lamp wicks, cotton balls, swabs, cotton thread, lighter test chain, cotton rope, and a couple of old floggers that Iruka hadn't used in years. 

Iruka started by holding all the various types of rods to flame.

Glass insulated well, but held the resultant heat too long.  Metal was worse, as it conducted the heat right to Iruka's hand and kept it.  Wood, cotton twine, and bamboo insulated his hand, but all of them eventually burned. Plastic melted and clung so tenaciously to even the sleek steel of the bench that Iruka just shook his head and tossed all of those away.  Leather held off the burning longer, but stunk horribly when it finally went. When Iruka arrived home that first night, Kakashi took one sniff and told the professor that dinner wasn't going to be served until he'd scrubbed himself thoroughly.

Iruka complied, and under the hot spray, realized his first attempt at figuring things out had gotten him no where. 

After dinner, Iruka closed the door to his office and called his one-time mentor, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who directed him to three different players in Monoshizukanohai who knew how to play with fire.  Two of them Iruka rejected outright, Nagato and Orochimaru were far too unbalanced, so far as Iruka was concerned. The third was Abel Nightroad, who happened to be in town for another engagement.  That was a rare find, and Iruka was glad for good luck when he spent most of a week working with Abel. He came out of the sessions with functional torches that he'd made himself, and his next move was to trash everything that Abel had shown Iruka would not work. The demonstrations the man had done showed Iruka what was possible. The remonstrations about the inherent risks made Iruka think some more about what kind of safety measure he should have even in the Department's basement.

Iruka added wet towels, a bucket of water, and a standard kitchen fire extinguisher. That was when Iruka felt safe enough to experiment on himself.

Wanting to get a feel for exactly what his tools would do, Iruka wanted to try more of the flames on himself than just the taste he got with his teacher. He knew that he had a lower pain threshold than Kakashi did, but this wasn't about hitting Kakashi's limits.  Iruka liked building sensations, layers on layers for interactions. He wanted to approach the line where Kakashi could give over control gradually, nudging his submissive over rather than throwing Kakashi over a cliff. Going slow would keep Kakashi from going on the defensive, and the effects were far more sustained when Iruka finally got through.

Setting aside all the fuels he'd originally thought of trying, everything from white gas to drinkable spirits (as Iruka loved the blue flames he could coax from bandy in a flambe and God knows Kakashi had a supply of alcohol that would never run out), paraffin to charcoal lighter fluid, Iruka brought out a glass dish of 70% rubbing alcohol.  All of the others burned too hot, too sticky, or too briefly to be put directly to skin. Hair mousse flashed across the surface of the foam in a burst so quick, Iruka hadn't been able to see it.

Naphtha, or Coleman fuel and kerosene and lighter fluid could be used for juggling torches, not to be applied to skin, but the flames could be used to light tracks and trails.  If handled with care, they could be safe and would burn far more spectacularly than the safer rubbing alcohol.  Iruka bought a juggler's torch with a can of kerosene and after soaking the head in the liquid overnight, he lit it.

The flickering flag of fire whipped and snapped in the breeze of every motion Iruka made.  He nerved himself for it and flipped the torch into the air. Heat kissed his forehead as the lit end flew by, but he caught the torch, easily, by the handle.  Iruka couldn't see trying to juggle two of them, but with one... he twirled it like a baton, and the sound and ribbon of light it made in the basement darkness made him nod, as did the fact that the handle grew almost too hot to handle after a bare fifteen minutes of full-on flames. 

This would have to have a short place in the proceedings.  Not against Kakashi's skin, but part of the show. For show it would be, even on a back stage of Break, there would be those that would want to watch.  Iruka didn't fool himself on that point, and he had to orchestrate it so that Kakashi would shine.

The alcohol torches were next.  Iruka wanted to be at utter ease with them, because the only things that would tame the adrenaline rush and attendant blindness were experience and practice.  It helped that the flames were cooler, bluer, fainter than the juggling torch.  He brushed the head of the torch against the skin of his forearm, and the scent of burnt hair filled the air as he watched it leave a trail of blue light.  Abel had always brushed the track out almost as quickly as it went on, but this time Iruka consciously let it burn, fighting the fear that screamed for him to just put it out.  He was fascinated by the fact that it didn't seem to...

Iruka's right hand slapped the flames out without conscious volition as the pain suddenly leaped into his awareness.  Reflex.  The quick motion intrigued him, as did the delay on the sensation. With the flame gone, Iruka didn't feel much of anything, and he presumed that the effects were minor.  Then Iruka stroked another line of flame onto his arm, and bit his lower lip as it burned. Quickly, he wiped the back of his hand against the flames, putting them out.

So.  Herein lay dragons.

Sighing, Iruka regarded the tools and materials on his bench.  They weren't the danger, he could test them to make sure that they would not melt or come apart at the wrong time. That he could plan to deal with and it could be controlled. The real risk in this whole venture lay in the delay of response, both to the initial destruction and to the sensations caused.  Iruka knew his Kakashi, knew that the ex-military man already asked for more than most human beings could handle, and that was when the pain was immediate.  Floggers, paddles, and single-tails were notoriously good at conveying immediate ache, and the destruction they wrought was relatively small in comparison to the magnitude of the pain they inflicted. Iruka rubbed his now smooth forearm, the touch only now started to tingle.

With fire it was the opposite way around.  The damage it wrought could well be great in comparison to the initial sensations of pain.

Remembering how Abel extinguished the torches in the demonstration, Iruka held the torch in his left hand, nerved himself, and snapped his right hand around the flaming, golf-ball sized head.  He did it from the side, because all the heat flowed up.  The quick motion snuffed the flickering flame out, and was showy enough for what Iruka intended.  Pleased by the success, Iruka went on through the other equipment on the steel bench.

Three weeks later, Iruka felt sun burnt on both forearms and the tops of his thighs, all of which he was using for testing purposes. He'd remembered to shave the testing areas, for all that he got odd looks from Kakashi when they were in bed. Iruka didn't like the smell of burnt hair and was relieved to find that the simple solution worked quite well. Now, Iruka could handle a torch as smoothly with his left as his right hand, and he no longer felt that huge rush at just lighting his tools.  He could focus on much more than just the living flame itself, and felt more confident about being able to pay enough attention to Kakashi when the time came.  Fire was becoming familiar, not commonplace, never so, but he was more at ease than when he started.

Of course, Iruka's experiments became more complicated.  He was using larger torches now, and something he'd found on the Internet, a flogger that had heads that could be lit.  The damned thing was tricky, though, as the metal cables got hot, and the heads had to be weighted to fly right so they hit a lot harder than Iruka wanted anything that was flaming to hit. The worst thing, however, was that the amount of fuel on them proved difficult to judge. Iruka had no intention of flinging fire into the audience. While Iruka had to admit that the image of some burning droplet lighting Neji's smooth tresses did amuse him, he had to take into account Kakashi's horror.

After swinging three flaming tails against a leather-clad dummy and realizing that the heat going up meant that he had to keep the thing in constant motion, Iruka discarded the whole idea, and dumped the thing into the University's trash bins.

The next day he concentrated on the torches again, this time he just used the torch to light a pre-drawn trail of alcohol.  Laboratory squirt bottles, brushes, and pipettes all seemed to allow a measured dose, and Iruka experimented with varying amounts.  First on the deerskin leather and then on himself.  Straight lines lit beautifully, and Iruka started interconnecting lines in a fine mesh.

When the mesh blurred because of too much alcohol in a pipette, Iruka absentmindedly seized and squeezed the torch he'd been using to light the botched pattern. The torch was freshly loaded with alcohol, as he'd expected to have it burn through multiple trials, and when he grasped it with his right hand to snuff the flame, the sensation of warm alcohol coursed between his fingers and down his forearm.

Then it all lit.

For an instant, Iruka just stared at the flames wreathing his entire forearm and hand. It was eerily beautiful. Then a lightning jag of pain flared, and he flailed the entire limb.  Most of the fire went out.  Iruka slapped the remaining flicker under his elbow as if it were a buzzing fly, and then stood shaking until he could control his knees enough to slide down and sit on the concrete floor.

"Damn it all to Hell," Iruka whispered. "If I'm going to tie Kakashi down for this, he isn't going to be able to..."  He trailed off, eyes closing, feeling the sharp ache all along his right arm. The pain seemed to bore into the very bones of his hand when he moved the limb. Awkwardly, he wrapped a wet towel about his reddened limb. 

"I can't do this," he muttered to himself. "I'd need two more hands to put them all out!"

Iruka froze.  Two more hands. 

The words echoed in Iruka's head.  He frowned.

Iruka gingerly pulled his cell phone out of his pocket with fingers that, thank God, weren't blistering.  He paged through his contacts, frowned harder, and then sighed as he dialed.

"Hello, Neji? May I ask you for a favor?  I think I need some help."

~*--*--*~

That night, Iruka tried to hide the consequences under his long sleeved button-down shirt and a pair of gloves. He arrived home to the sound of sizzling, the roar of the vent over the grill, and the scent of seared meat through their shared townhouse.  Dumping his briefcase in his office in the front room, Iruka went to the kitchen to find Kakashi in nothing more than skin-tight biking shorts and a sheen of sweat from his workout. 

Iruka deliberately scuffed his shoes on the kitchen floor, to warn the ex-special service soldier of his presence before walking up behind Kakashi, pressing his nose against the back of Kakashi's neck, and setting lips on the knob of bone at the top of a beautifully curved spine. Kakashi's tousled gray hair was damp, and Iruka breathed deep of Kakashi's musk. Iruka felt more than heard the groan as Kakashi pressed back against him, and his tongue stroked a few salty inches of skin before he bit down. 

The jerk and buck of Kakashi's hips made Iruka's breathing go fast, and he deliberately wrapped his arms about Kakashi and held both of them still before he kissed the dented skin. 

"Keep going like that, and everythin's gonna be well done," Kakashi rasped.

"Can't... can't have that," Iruka managed.

"I'm ready to say to hell with everything and just order a pizza after you've fucked me breathless," Kakashi quipped and turned around in the ring of Iruka's hold.  One eyebrow rose, and Kakashi stroked the back of Iruka's hand.  Iruka had to fight to not flinch at the touch on tender skin under the cloth of the gloves. "What's with the Michael Jackson impression?"

Faced directly with his foolishness at trying to hide anything from Kakashi, Iruka sighed and slipped off the gloves.

"What the hell were you doing?" Kakashi drawled on seeing the reddened skin, his quick touch felt cool against Iruka's heated skin.

"Testing." Iruka didn't quite trust his voice for much more than the one word at seeing Kakashi's protective tendencies flare to life.

"Damn it, Professor," Kakashi said, drawing back Iruka's sleeve and exposing more of Iruka's folly. "That's what _I'm_ for, you idiot."

"No, I'm responsible..." Iruka began, trying to go for dignity only to have his composure shattered as Kakashi picked up and shook Iruka by his lapels in a very hard to ignore demonstration of Kakashi's strength. "Kashi..." Iruka tried and just got another teeth-rattling shake. "Damn it.  I fucking know what I'm doing."

"You got _hurt_." The anguish behind the anger in Kakashi's tone brought Iruka up more abruptly than the fists dangling him above the floor.  He met Kakashi's mismatched eyes, and the fear in them knocked the breath from Iruka's chest.

"My Kashi," Iruka whispered, soothing and rueful around a tight throat. He stroked the bunched muscles of Kakashi's arms. Slowly, the bigger man let Iruka down back onto his feet.  "I'm all right. It's not bad, not even any blistering, and I learned what I had to know from doing it."

"Sir," Kakashi started, then he shuddered hard and wrapped Iruka in his arms.

"Yes, you are mine, and I will take every tool within my grasp to do this well. Thank you for your protection of me," Iruka murmured against the edge of Kakshi's ear.

Kakashi kissed Iruka breathless.

The steak burned.

They ended up having pizza much, much later, tangled up on the couch by the fireplace in the living room.

"You're not going to do any more testing without me," Kakashi insisted after the second slice.

"No," Iruka conceded, and Kakashi's hand closed tight about Iruka's uninjured hand.  "I'm not going to do any more testing. I think I have what I need, and how it's going to go, and I want and need your consent for my plan."

Together, they went over every step of what was going to happen.  Iruka even brought out his sketch book to show the setup, what he was going to require of Kakashi, how he envisioned Kakashi's outfit and bindings, and exactly what tools he was going to use. The bartender bent over the plans, pointed out better possibilities given the space, and asked for two bindings that would hold him even more helpless for what Iruka wanted to do.

Iruka shivered, and Kakashi's crooked grin and heated cheeks over the exact details made for an even later bedtime.

~*--*--*~

"Friday night, what were you thinking, picking a Friday night?" Kakashi asked as they pulled into the overflowing parking lot for Bliss. 

The huge, white cathedral of a building was spot lit fiercely by beams that sliced through the murk of a spring overcast. The lights could be seen clear across Monoshizukanohi.  At ten in the evening, the night was just getting started.  All the beautiful people, so young Iruka thought of them as kids, already dancing, kissing, and nearly fucking each other all stood in a line that reached halfway into the parking lot. Enjoying the wait to get into the pulsing beat and flashing strobes of the most popular dance club in the city.

"I was trying for a quiet night, Kakashi," Iruka said gently. "And we are an hour early."

"Good thing, or we'd be hitting the steps that same time as Shikamaru."

Iruka laughed, thinking that the lazy Nara was often late, but that when Neji's desires were on the line, Shikamaru got moving.

They walked through the sea of parked cars, and in the distance, under a shadowed copse, Iruka spotted an old Bentley with a chauffeur seated under the map light, reading a thick book propped up on the steering wheel.  There were several other stretched vehicles in a line with it, two ridiculous looking Humvees, half a dozen limos, and two distinctive shadows of old Rolls Royces.  Iruka tried to keep his expression completely neutral on realizing one of the Rolls was a Silver Ghost. No need to give anything away, when he'd worked so hard to keep it to himself.

"I think you failed on the quiet, professor." Kakashi's dry tone didn't bite Iruka the way it could have, but he gave a low grunt of affirmation.

Burly Christopher, the front door bouncer, nodded on seeing them, and let them through ahead of the line.  The murmuring of those that waited rose like seagulls at the sea: _Is that Kakashi?_ and _Oooo.... aren't the owners dreamy?_ and _Look at that build, must have taken years..._ and _Oh my God, what I wouldn't give for that collar and those pants!_

Kakashi's full-length white leather duster was buckled in silver up the front, and the white collar that covered throat, chin, and half of Kakashi's face made him look like the ghost of a pirate, menacing in a way that cleared a path for both of them. And, as Iruka had wanted, the white made Kakashi stand out like a candle in the darkness, especially against all the kids wearing black.

The thrashing, screaming music didn't just spill out of the doorway, it forcibly shoved everything from its path.  Iruka lowered his head and shoulder, ducking under the tsunami wall of sound and into the press of close bodies. A leash went from Iruka's hand to Kakashi's collar; and now he was glad of it as they waded through. Kakashi led, his physical prowess cutting a clean path through the leaping, dancing crowd.  Whenever Kakashi had to touch someone on the shoulder, he startled them into jumping out of the way. Both of them soon reached black ominous doors that led into Club Break.

Iruka didn't even bother trying to defend his choice of days to Kakashi in the midst of the chaos.  He mostly hoped that all the insanity would distract Kakashi from seeing that Gaara wasn't DJ'ing in Bliss tonight, and that none of the usual crowd was here in this portion of the connected Clubs. It was another bonus he'd gotten by calling Neji the second time.

A thoughtful Hyuuga made for thorough plans.

So they were here, ostensibly an hour early, in order for them to set up all the equipment, check the St. Andrews cross, and ready for the evening's show on one of the back stages of Break's main floor.

The massive double doors between the two clubs were closed, but Aaron, one of Neji's bodyguards who also served time as one of Break's security members, was standing by the doors.  For all that people were stepping on each other in the rest of the building, they cleared a half-circle for the enormous doors.  When Iruka and Kakashi walked up, Aaron spoke into a mouth piece and nodded to them both.

Kakashi dragged out his dog tags with the silver rose embossed on them, and waved them over the security pad.  The small light glowed green, and Aaron grasped the doorknob and wrestled with the enormous door.

It swung open on an empty, carpeted narthex. Art, gothic mirrors, and antique furniture lined the hallway in neat array. They both stepped through, and Aaron closed the door behind them, snuffing out the all-encompassing music. 

"Looks like we found your quiet, professor. It's like a ghost town," Kakashi quipped.  "Especially after that mosh pit."

Iruka saw Kakashi's one eye dart back and forth, and sighed at the squaring of broad shoulders. It was something Kakashi only did when he was bracing for disappointment.

"We're early, Kakashi, that's all," Iruka said, trying to reassure.

Kakashi seemed to ease back, and he gave Iruka _that_ look.  The one that was all shine and glitter and didn't touch the edges of Kakashi's eye.

"Guess no one wants to see my ass lit on fire. Smart bastards," Kakashi said, the smirk in the lilt of his voice.

Iruka wondered how it was that Kakashi couldn't hear Iruka's heart crack, but he firmly kept his lips together. He gripped Kakashi's upper arm in a quick squeeze and unable to trust his voice, he led Kakashi to the coat check.

Rose waited behind the counter, dressed in top hat, frilled dress shirt, and tails over fish net stockings and high heels that glittered with silver chain over the insteps.  Her long curling black hair fell in cascading ringlets, and a single tea rose graced the lapel of her silk suit. She greeted them both with a chipper, "Good evening, sirs!"

"Good evening, Rose, you are looking dapper tonight," Kakashi flirted smoothly, sounding so happy that Iruka wanted to just pull him aside and either hug him or hit him.

"Thank you, Mr. Hatake!" Rose dimpled as she checked their ID's and cell phones.  "I wanted to dress up for you tonight."

"For me?" Kakashi blinked and went stone still.  A move that Iruka knew was reflex in the face of uncertainty.

She nodded her pretty head and smiled.  "It's good to see you, sirs.  May I take your coats?"

Kakashi slowly drew off his coat to show pale leather cuffs spanning each strong wrists. A ragged, thin white t-shirt was stretched across Kakashi's broad shoulders, all the hems entirely ripped away. The near-translucent fabric displayed and highlighted very ridge of abdomen and plane of chest muscle in a way that simple nakedness could not. Leather pants the color of old iron stretched over powerful thighs and ass, held together by chrome buckles up and down the outside of each leg.  Pale skin, rippled by old scars, showed under the metal buckles as he moved, and disappeared into big combat boots.

Rose gave an appreciative sigh. "You are amazing, sir."

"I agree with her," Iruka said, and smiled at Kakashi's snort.  Iruka pulled off his coat and chuckled under the keen scrutiny of both Kakashi and Rose.  The skin-tight dark blue leather pants felt warm under their looks, but he wore a black mesh tank that fell like shadows against his dark skin.  His long hair was tied back twice, to be absolutely sure it didn't fall into flame. Iruka handed over both their coats, and received the check tag, which he tucked into the miniscule back pocket of his pants.

"Thank you, sir!" Rose chirped. "Go on in."

Kakashi was giving Rose another one of those intense looks, and Iruka caught Kakashi's elbow gently, deliberately _not_ pushing his partner, just holding.  Iruka's touch caught Kakashi's attention more surely than any words. 

"Kashi," Iruka said gently. "I need your help with the equipment, shall we go?"

The question did it.  There was no hint of an order in the request and that got Kakashi moving when, by all rights, the ex-special forces man should have added up Rose's greeting statement with the emptiness of the entrance.  Instead, they walked side-by-side through the double-doors onto the stages of Break.

They stepped into music that resembled the low throbbing of a beating heart and an enormous room lit by a galaxy of glittering star lights that spangled the floors and walls in slow arcs of motion.  People gathered about the front edges of the central stage. They were seated on leather upholstered lounges or knelt by the sides of their Masters and Mistresses, all by tables set and served with drinks and food. Candles flickered, casting a warm glow on all the faces that leaned over them. Waiters in full tuxes and waitresses in tuxedos much like Rose's outfit circulated among the guests.

The other stages lay dark.  No one and nothing moved on them.

Kakashi stopped stock still. Even from here, Iruka could pick out the people in the crowd. Gaara in the DJ booth with Kiba standing by his side; Itachi with Haku lain across his lap as he lounged in a red velvet lounge, sharing a table with Abel; the Police Chief's foursome drank beers in tipped back chairs around a black and white table; and Gai and Lee looking a little uncomfortable, but sipping tea by the stage. Tenzou was missing, something to do with the artist boy. Every member of the wait staff were people who had been vetted by Kakashi, most found their positions through his help.

Naruto and Sasuke were on a Caribbean cruise, planned since Christmas, and the absence, knowing how Kakashi felt about being vulnerable in front of those particular ex-students, was welcome. There was also the very conspicuous absence of anyone that wasn't included in the circles of Kakashi's life. Iruka knew that on the other end of the complex, the Vault doors were closed and guarded by Neji's other bodyguard, Cale.

Neji swept toward them, black hair flowing in the breeze of his passage. He wore a neat gun metal gray silk suit that probably cost more than several years of Iruka's professor's salary could afford. It was tailor-fit to his slender frame, with tails, the neat silver pinstriping of the vest matched a few silver strands he'd had placed in his hair.  Long pointed collar tips overlay a cool blue cravat carelessly wound about his slender throat, emphasizing its grace and length.  Still, it was less flashy than most of Neji's outfits, and Iruka was struck by the idea of Neji trying not to take center stage in this event. 

Pacing measured strides along the walkway, Neji arrived with Shikamaru, a shadow at his back.  Neji's boy was dressed in nothing but a leather harness and a chastity sheath studded with diamonds that flashed rainbows, and the park ranger's frame carried it all off beautifully.  Though, as far as Iruka was concerned, it was Shikamaru's confidence in his master that made it entirely alluring.

"Neji."  Kakashi's tone was curt to the point of rudeness, a far departure from his usual banter and tenderness with his employer. His posture was wide, ready for anything. "I see you've been busy."

Neji smoothly drew off one glove.  "Indeed.  It was my pleasure to be able to come so quickly to the aid of a valued colleague's dear partner."

The glance Kakashi's mismatched eyes turned on Iruka should have burned right through him.

"I just scheduled the stage for today," Iruka said in an even answer. "Neji offered to make it more exclusive, and I took him up on it."

"Exclusive? So you could..."

"... so I could make this lovely space more secure for you, where only deserving gazes would fall upon your Scene, dear Kakashi." Neji's tones were sonorous, declaration rather than capitulation. "It was a simple thing, really, announcing the closing of Break for the event and issuing exclusive invitations to those who would be welcome."

Kakashi looked over the crowd, and something in the line of his shoulders and neck softened as his head bowed. That might be all the concession they'd get, Iruka thought, but then Kakashi surprised them both.

"Thank you, Neji and Sir."

Neji bowed, slowly and more deeply than Iruka had ever seen before. "You are very welcome, Kakashi."

Then without warning, Neji stepped forward and hugged Kakashi fiercely.  A startled sound came from underneath the high collar.  Kakashi's back and shoulders flexed, and then very gently, Kakashi wrapped his arms about the slender man who was the leader in the crusade Kakashi fought for with all his heart. The tableau held like a reflection in a pond, until a breath, an unseen motion broke the embrace. Both men nodded at each other, Neji stepped back and walked away, Shikamaru in tow.

Iruka stepped up next to Kakashi, and acted as if he didn't notice the haunted look in Kakashi's eye. 

"He cares a great deal for you, my Kashi," Iruka murmured.

Kakashi nodded, hands flexing, and Iruka got a good feeling for just how much events were affecting his lover, when Kakashi didn't say a word.  Kakashi always had something to say.

"Please, come with me," Iruka said softly. "I wish to examine the stage and my equipment setup."

This time Kakashi fell in half a step behind Iruka, and Iruka briskly led the way to the stage before everyone. He saw Gaara's head go up in the booth, and he shook his head to signal that he didn't want the spotlights on, yet.  He saw the red-head nod back, and they both walked onto the stage. People took their cue and kept going about their conversations. The clink of glassware and the murmur of voices were soothing, but Iruka saw Kakashi suddenly stop and stiffen as they got closer to where the St. Andrews cross and table laden with neatly arraigned equipment stood by a man sitting _seiza_ , very still hands perfectly placed on muscled thighs.

"Looks like Neji's little minions have been busy."

"Mm," Iruka hummed noncommittally before he finally admitted. "Actually, it was all my minion, and he's done a very fine job."

Kakashi's tone turned dangerous. "Who is it?"

"Kimimaro, please come here," Iruka commanded.

Light glinted off of Kimimaro's dozens of visible piercings and glowed in candy floss colored hair, as slender Kimimaro arose gracefully and bowed to them both. He wore black leather pants so tight they were nearly leggings, a black tank top that hugged his upper body closely, and simple black boat shoes: the stage hand attire Iruka had dictated.

"Master Kakashi and Master Iruka, I am honored to serve you both tonight."

"Serve?" Kakashi's tone was harsh.

Kimimaro's expression fell, though his regimented stance changed not a whit.

"Yes," Iruka said firmly, even when Kakashi's eye turned on him.  "I am very pleased to have you, Kimimaro. I am very happy that your contract was available and that you were willing to fulfill my utmost desire."

The hope that lit in Kimimaro's face silenced whatever Kakashi was about to say next, made Kakashi's eye close on an emotion that Iruka couldn't quite identify.

Iruka had debated this move over and over again, knowing he needed help, but also knowing exactly how hard it would be for Kakashi to allow anyone else to touch him while he was helpless. Neji's suggestion had taken a great deal of debate before Iruka could accept the possibility, but the kicker for Iruka was finding out that Kakashi had been the one to ready Kimimaro for the mystery contract, whom everyone now knew was written and masterminded by Itachi.

Kakashi could never help truly caring for someone that the ex-sergeant was required to protect. Neji's reminder, and the half a day's negotiations of parameters, requirements, and desires between Iruka and the always-deferential Kimimaro had sealed the deal. Kimimaro knew about the physical limits of a human body in ways even Iruka hadn't tested, and he shuddered to think about how the past slave had learned those things.

Kakashi's fists clenched. "Don't I get a say in this?"

Iruka regarded Kakashi, meeting the angry gaze with his own.  "What would you say, my Kashi? You have seen the evidence of what I cannot guard against on my own." Iruka ruthlessly used his own injury if it would protect Kakashi from them. "I have contracted Kimimaro to serve as my own hands. Take his touch as you would my own."

The grinding of teeth was so quiet, only Kimimaro and Iruka heard it, and Kimimaro politely kept his face perfectly still.

Hands unknotted so slowly that Iruka could almost hear tendons creak.

"His touch as your own? An extension of your will, Sir?" The tone was low enough Iruka had to lean in to hear.

"Yes, my will for you, my Kashi." Iruka saw rather than heard the sigh that filled and emptied from Kakashi's chest. "Kimimaro, please state your understanding of the arrangements."

"As you wish," Kimimaro's eyes went down, head bowed. "Master Iruka has told me that I am only to touch you on his command, though that includes anything I have to do to put out flames that get away from Master Iruka. I may be asked to bind you, touch you, support you as he asks, Master Kakashi, not as you direct."

Iruka met, head-on, the look Kakashi shot at Iruka with that particular caveat  Kakashi's head tilted as Kimimaro continued with the list.

"I am now fully trained to use the fire extinguisher in case anything happens, and trained on some aspects of the immediate aftercare. Master Iruka, with my Master's permission and supervision, inducted me into some of the base reflexes and tells for real damage."

Kimimaro looked up, right into Kakashi's visible eye, and Iruka suppressed a sound of surprise.  It was not often that the slender submissive broke protocol with the owners of Break, Kimi seemed to think of them all as masters of one sort of another. 

"Master Kakashi, please." The naked pleading in the words made Iruka wish he could close his eyes, but he fought the tide of emotion when he saw Kakashi sway in its wake. "Please allow me to serve you and your Sir?  It would be an honor I would cherish for all my days."

Kakashi grunted as if he'd been gut-punched.  Iruka had heard less pain when he took a single-tail to Kakashi than was in that single tone. 

"Kashi..." Iruka whispered.

Kakashi shook his head as if maddened by some biting fly. "Damn it, Sir, you're going to kill me before you even have me strung up."

"I couldn't think of any other way to solve the problem of not having four hands and the ability to be in two places at once," Iruka said with an entirely neutral tone and then let his voice warm. "Besides, it's something of an ego boost to find so many who adore the man I love."

Kakashi clutched at Iruka's wrist, and Iruka hid the motion from their audience by closing with Kakashi and hugging him tight.  Kakashi sighed harshly through his nose, and it took several minutes of fighting himself before he touched his forehead to Iruka's shoulder. 

"Sir..."

"Yes?"

"I..."

"You'll do fine, my love," Iruka said gently, and he reached up to stroke Kakashi's wild hair. On touching the buckles for the collar, Iruka pulled lose the tongue, and slipped the restraint from Kakashi's face. The resultant sigh was accompanied by just a tiny bit more weight against Iruka's shoulder.

"You've pleased me so much simply by getting on this stage," Iruka whispered, handing the high collar to Kimimaro's eager hands to be whisked away. "We've already taken the first steps together.  It's just a little bit further my Sergeant."

"Sir. Yes, Sir," Kakashi said softly and looked up.  The vulnerability in Kakashi's mismatched eyes, usually so guarded or masked with an easy smile, made Iruka swallow on a dry mouth.

"Come."

Looking up and taking a deep breath to regain his own equilibrium, Iruka met Gaara's watching eye. Iruka nodded. The heartbeat began to throb faster, whorls of flowing melody were sent spinning through the air, spotlights grew steadily brighter on the cross and the stage.  He saw Neji sit down, and the small audience settled, hushed.

Iruka led Kakashi the few steps it took to reach the St. Andrew's cross.

_TBC_


	2. The Scene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iruka carries out the scene with Kakashi, and gives Kakashi what he promised in their private room in the back, after the show.

The eight-foot tall St. Andrews Cross was an enormous X made from industrial-grade steel girder. It took special equipment to move its weight.  The 3-inch thick ship hull steel plate base supported a third leg that helped prop up the center from the back. The X's arms and legs had restraint anchors recessed all along their lengths, to keep them from digging into limbs when used. Naruto's fantasies about a perfect BDSM setup had included running a wrecking ball against the thing to see if it would hold up.  It had not only held up, it had stayed erect.  So there were no concerns about it ever tipping when loaded.

"Please, Kashi, lie back and let it support you." 

Iruka stood aside, and Kakashi spread his legs to match the spread of the cross, and rested his body against the steel.

"Kimimaro, please attach Kakashi's wrist cuffs to the upper supports." 

Kakashi's eyes opened with a flash of wariness. Throat muscles and tendons tightened as Iruka saw Kakashi fighting with his own natural resistance.  Just before Kimimaro touched his cuffs, Iruka stepped between Kakashi's spread legs, set mesh-covered torso against the warmth of Kakashi's belly, and caught Kakashi's lips in a kiss.

"Sir," Kakashi whispered.

Iruka pressed a slow, sweet kiss, tasting every centimeter of the seam of Kakashi's mouth with gentle insistence, until Kakashi's mouth opened, inviting the probe of tongue and a slow bite of lower lip. Iruka loved kissing Kakashi like this, thoroughly and deliberately. Iruka felt Kakashi melt against the iron frame, a low moan vibrating between them. The chink and chime of chain on link on cross was drowned by the heat that arose between them, and Iruka stroked Kakashi's firming arousal through Kakashi's leather pants.

Bucking into the touch, Kakashi stuttered for air, yanking at his bonds and getting the distinctive creak of the heavy leather cuffs encircling his wrists. 

"Oh, fuck," Kakashi whispered, eyes on Iruka, not on the people surrounding them.

"Perfect, Kashi, you are perfect," Iruka murmured against Kakashi's parted lips.  When Kakashi's body yielded with a sigh, Iruka stroked the smoothness of Kakashi's new-shaven jaw. 

Kneeling before Kakashi, Iruka waved Kimi back.  This intimate a touch would be his and his alone.  With quick fingers Iruka undid the catches up the right side of Kakashi's pants, and then swiftly move down the left side.  The silver buckles released to a deeper, quicker breath from Kakashi, and the leather pants fell from carved torso and spread legs, revealing a neat tight tuck of white leather briefs.  Utterly nontransparent, but displaying the bulk of Kakashi's package prominently.

Only Iruka felt the shudder that ran through Kakashi at the reveal, and he stroked the shaven velvet smoothness of flank and thigh before ducking down to unlace combat boots.  Kimimaro made a soft sound, and Iruka glanced over and nodded, so that Kimimaro bent to undo the other boot.

"Y... you're both on your knees before me," Kakashi whispered with the faintest thread of amusement.

Iruka smiled. "Yes, my Kashi.  Enjoy it."

"Oh, I will, Sir." Kakashi watched quietly as each man took their turn to remove the heavy footwear and thick socks.

"Good. Now, Kimi, the shin cuffs."

"Aye, Master Iruka."

Kimimaro hopped up with more ease than Iruka could probably muster, and gathered up the two long cuffs from the table of equipment.  These were custom-made from white deerskin, supple and soft but for the steel shaft that ran along the front of them.  The leather encased all of Kakashi's calves and ankles, and were nearly shin guards. Multiple buckles held closed the tongue that wrapped the entire length, and a strap went under the arch of Kakashi's foot. Iruka wasn't sure if the foot strap actually added any stability, but Kakashi liked how it felt. 

Taking one of the big cuffs, Iruka put it on, watching with approval when Kimimaro tightened, tested the fit, and readjusted in much the same manner that Iruka did on the other side.  The boy was experienced, and these were unusual cuffs. The three D-rings off the back made them better at immobilizing the entire leg than simple ankle cuffs could be.  Kakashi had suggested them, as one of the things that would restrict him all the more. The two men used carabiners to clip the rings to the evenly spaced  anchors on the cross.

"Try and lift your knee, Kakashi," Iruka ordered. Kakashi yanked hard but didn't go more than an inch with a clang of metal. Kakashi breathed a low cry at the direct, physical evidence of being held so helpless. The sound went directly to Iruka's cock, and he shuddered and caressed Kakashi's smooth thigh. "Good, my love.  Very good."

"Sir.  Thank you, Sir."

The tone told Iruka that this was working, that Kakashi was well on his way to where Iruka wanted him.  That the emotional blows dealt by the affection that both Neji and Kimimaro felt for Kakashi was doing their work in ways that pain could not.  Kakashi was notoriously capable of taking and wanting a great deal of pain, and while Iruka took joy from meeting Kakashi's need for pain, Iruka also loved knowing his submissive well enough slip Kakashi gently down the slope of true submission.

Rising, Iruka slid his touch all along Kakashi's sides, giving the bound man plenty of warning. Iruka leaned his body against Kakashi's, feeling every rise and fall of the chest against his.

"Now, the last binding, my Kashi," Iruka murmured, and he reached for the blue titanium chain welded about Kakashi's throat. He tugged it gently, hearing Kakashi's breath catch.  He attached a length of chain to the back of the collar, and clipped it to the anchor point dead in the center of the cross, keeping a slight tension on it against Kakashi's throat. "And now you are reminded of your binding and promises to me."

Kakashi bit his lower lip and his breathing picked up. He moved minutely forward and when the bright links bit against collarbone, his mismatched eyes closed.

"I hold you and keep you, dear Kashi.  You are mine in all ways," Iruka murmured, and treasured the way Kakashi shuddered.

Then Iruka stepped to the side, and Kimimaro mirrored the motion, so that their twin darkness framed the bound man neatly. Under the spotlights, the paleness of Kakashi's skin, t-shirt, and white bindings glowed like a bonfire in the night. Iruka abruptly stepped forward and ripped the t-shirt from Kakashi's torso, exposing every inch of hard muscle. The hard yank brought Kakashi up hard against all his bindings with a chime of metal. Kakashi's eyes flew wide open, and Iruka had to rein himself in hard to keep from tackling Kakashi right there.

For an instant there was complete silence, and Iruka nearly panicked at the thought of having bored everyone. There was a collective sigh and gasp of appreciation before the whole audience applauded. Watching carefully, Iruka saw the tension that writhed through Kakashi's frame, but when he met Kakashi's mismatched eyes with his own steady gaze, he saw Kakashi relax again.

"I've got you, Kashi." Iruka soothed.

Kakashi's head dropped again. "Yes, Sir."

Iruka stroked the nearest stretch of Kakashi's skin and felt him lean into the touch. "All right, Kimi, always be in contact with some part of Kakashi's skin if you're behind him, so he knows where you are.  If you're in front you don't have to be touching him the whole time, but give him warning if his eyes are closed.  Yes?"

"Yes, Master Iruka."  Kimimaro stood before them both.

"For now I want you to stroke his legs, arms, and chest.  Stay clear of his groin and belly for now, but do tease his nipples, use your mouth as you wish, as I want him ready for the clamps."

Kakashi arched against the cross, and Kimimaro, wide-eyed, moved closer, using slender hands to reverently stroke straining arms. "Aye, Master Iruka."

Iruka listened to the notes of Kakashi's voice, how they rose with Kimi's attentions.  He moved over to the table laid out for him. Everything was exactly in the place he'd assigned it, on the maps he'd drawn for Neji and Kimimaro.  He looked up again, searching for Gaara attention. Kiba touched the DJ on the shoulder, pointing, and Gaara's gaze snapped to Iruka's.

With a single nod, Gaara brought down all the house lights to startled gasps from the audience. The spotlight pinned Kakashi against the black iron cross for three slow breaths before it faded, and the entire floor about the stage bloomed.  White shirts, a new grass green tie, yellows, pale blues, and unexpected colors shone phosphorescent. The tiny candles on each table spilled pools of light.  The dolphin tattooed in UV ink on Iruka's side suddenly leaped into visibility, shining against his skin like a ghost on the ocean, shimmering with each slide of his black mesh shirt.

"Ooooh..." The gasp from the audience made Iruka grin to himself, even as he snapped on a working light for his table of equipment, it was hooded to keep the illumination directed away from audience and Kakashi. 

Picking up a set of blue steel nipple clamps, Iruka turned to where Kakashi hung. In the dim blueness of the UV illumination, features were still discernible, there would be no danger of running into things, or stepping off the stage, the way there was in full darkness. Kimi was bent before Kakashi, mouth working one nipple while slender fingers teased the other.  Kakashi growled when Kimi came off of one, teeth dragging at the swollen nub. 

"Excellent work, Kimi," Iruka said, and stroked Kimimaro's hair, as the dancer moved out of Iruka's away, one hand resting on Kakashi's thigh.

Iruka pinched and twisted Kakashi's left nipple, and Kakashi grunted, muscles writhing under sleek skin. "Perfect, just perfect." Iruka gently placed the first clamp, a squared-off clothespin style metal clamp, over the red flushed nub and let the teeth bite. The second clamp went on as swiftly, and Iruka took the chain between forefinger and thumb.  He looked into Kakashi's eyes and yanked.

Kakashi rolled silently with a hiss of breath, but when he came back into position he was grinning. The clamps were just icing on the cake, and they both knew it.

"Good." Taking up a single torch, Iruka dipped it into the open container of rubbing alcohol and squeezed all the excess out of it.  Whatever Iruka might be, he was one to learn quickly.  "Kimi, please stand under Kakashi's left arm."

Kimimaro slipped into place, and Iruka lit the first torch. 

A murmur of appreciation flowed from the audience, the clear light, yellow and blue wreathed the white, packed ball of cotton and fibers. Iruka drew the flame so that it hovered just above the surface of Kakashi's skin.  The St. Andrews cross tilted Kakashi back, allowing Iruka to work without any part of Kakashi's skin or body in the stream of heat that wafted up from the torch. Iruka let the flames flicker over exposed surfaces, moving in smooth S-shaped curves over and around Kakashi's upraised arms, shoulders, and  exposed torso.  Then Iruka swung the torch so that flames barely kissed Kakashi's forehead.

"I can feel it," Kakashi whispered with wonder.  "It's got weight to it, as well as the heat. It's like a caress."

"Yes, my Kashi. That is as it should be, when the flame comes from above.  Now, you shall see what it's like if I go underneath you as well, and I want you to tell me when it's hot enough to be painful.  You understand?"

"Sir. Yes, Sir," Kakashi said mechanically, his eyes following the torch's passage, mesmerize by the dancing flicker, more than Iruka's words. 

Iruka passed the torch under Kakashi's arms, alternating a three count pass up the lengths of each. Kakashi craned his neck as much as the collar would allow him and watched silently.  On the fourth pass, Kakashi's breath hissed from between his teeth, and on the fifth, he tightened, fighting his body's instincts to get away. " _Nngh_... God."

It wasn't, however, an admission. Iruka forced himself to move a single count slower, and Kakashi jerked against the cross, cussing before he caught a breath to say, "Hot. Sir..."

Iruka nodded. "Take one more for me, Kaahi?"

"Of course, Sir. Three more if you want, Sir." The instant comeback did all kinds of good things for Iruka's sense of where Kakashi was, and he ducked close for a quick kiss.  He readied the torch again, and said, "Kimi, ready one of the cold towels."

Kimimaro reached into a bucket and pulled out a white towel. Ice tinkled against metal when Kimimaro wrung the cotton towel out.

"Oh fuck, Sir, not ice." Kakashi groaned and then growled when a ripple of laughter came from their audience.

"No, not ice, not directly, it would actually irritate your skin.  Just a cold, wet towel." 

"Right, Sir," Kakashi subsided again, but watched, fascinated as Iruka brought the torch close again. 

Iruka drew the fire under each of Kakashi's arms for another four count. The flame leaped well away from Kakashi, but the rising heat on sensitized skin was enough to make Kakashi twist, sweat springing to his forehead.  This from a man who could take floggers, canes, and bullwhips without a sound on the first half dozen strikes, and Iruka had a whole new appreciation for what fire could do.

"One is enough, it will build for later, my love," Iruka said. Taking his own fear in hand, Iruka suppressed the memory of his own flaming hand, and used his right hand to douse the dying flame on the emptying torch.  Satisfied with the gasp from Kakashi and the quick murmur of delight from those about them, Iruka summoned Kimimaro with a crook of his index finger. "Please, Kimi, lay that under his left arm, where the skin is just starting to turn pink."

Kimimaro nodded, and without even an ounce of hesitation, pressed the cold cloth against Kakashi's skin.

Kakashi surged against his restraints, his bellow of shock ringing against even the farthest wall of Break's main room. Applause startled Kakashi into sudden silence, and Iruka hastily took the two steps to the bucket and wrung out another towel, which he placed against the underside of Kakashi's right arm from wrist to underarm. The whole cross shuddered, but this time, without the element of surprise, Kakashi only cursed a blue streak.

When the words ran down, Iruka nodded to Kimimaro and both men removed the towels, setting them back into the bucket. 

"They're supposed to be soothing on light burns," Iruka said reasonably.

"S--soothing my ass, Sir," Kakashi stammered. Iruka grinned, and Kakashi's head fell forward until the chain brought him up.  "Damn it, Sir. You are evil."

"Thank you, Kakashi. I do try."  Carefully, Iruka loaded and squeezed the excess from his torch before lighting it.  He passed the flames before Kakashi's face, and Kakashi flinched back.

"Instinct and reflex," Iruka murmured. "Let's face and fight them together, shall we, my Sergeant?"

"What is this we, Sir?  Aren't you going to just light me..."  Kakashi stopped with a gasp, when Iruka swiped a warm, wet strip across his own forearm. 

In the darkness, under the UV lights, the flame crawled over Iruka arm, yellow, blue, and alive.  Then Iruka swiped at it, the wiping gesture snuffing the flame.

"Sir... you're supposed to..."

Iruka shook his head. "I'm supposed to do what I want, Kakashi, and I want to show you this is different."  He turned to Kimimaro. "Wring out a towel, and leave it by your feet.  I want your hands free to wipe out any flame I leave behind, but I need you to have the towel to snuff anything big that might escape."

"Aye, Master Iruka." Kimimaro bent to his task.

Turning back to Kakashi, Iruka smiled again.  "Now, let's light you on fire, my love."

By placing the surface of the torch head against Kakashi's skin, Iruka left a burning trial of alcohol. The tongues of flame that leaped after were the color of will 'o wisps and wishes, pale and clear and clean.  A ghost of a flame that obeyed Iruka's will, caressing, kissing, and lapping at Kakashi's skin like a demon lover.  Even before the audience cried out at what it saw, Iruka wiped the flames away with his other hand.

Kakashi looked into Iruka's eyes. "That didn't hurt at all. A little warm but..."

Iruka nodded. "It will build and linger worse than the bruises from a flogging, I promise."

Kakashi's eyes closed, and Iruka saw the tick of skin and muscle as Kimimaro laid one hand on Kakashi's arm, nearest to the slender boy.  Kimi was doing as Iruka asked.

"Thank you, Sir," Kakashi said in a very low tone.

"I know what you want, my sweet Kashi," Iruka said tenderly. "And I will give it, but at my pace and with my concerns."

"Sir. Yes, Sir."

Kimimaro stood behind Kakashi. Iruka prepped and lit a second torch to lay wings of fire down both of Kakashi's arms.  He let them burn a beat longer than the initial demonstration.

"Now, Kimi," Iruka said and was gratified when Kimimaro swept them both away with his hands.

Lines snaked down Kakashi's chest, and Kimimaro took care of the top half, and Iruka snuffed the lines over metal-clamped nipple, loving the hiss of Kakashi's breath and the growing of the barely-covered cock under the white leather briefs.

Iruka spent the next fifteen minutes painting fire onto Kakashi's spread arms, shoulders, clamped chest, and taut belly. With the way the cuffs and cross worked, Iruka was working on the thinner skin of the inside of Kakashi's wrist and elbow instead of the tougher outer layers.  The thinner skin was more vulnerable, and Iruka had to be careful.  Iruka balanced allowing the audience to see the flickers of light and controlling the substance in question. With each sweep and glow, each touch of their hands, Iruka saw Kakashi fall deeper under the spell of the heat, the iron-clad bondage, and the weave of Iruka's spell.

"Lovely. Perfect... exactly as I want..." Iruka found himself crooning, as the repeated applications started to illicit more and more of a response from Kakashi.  Sweat glistened on Kakashi's skin, droplets forming on forehead and temple, dampening the smooth skin under Kakashi's arms.  Shining in the hollow of elbow, dip of collarbone, and cradle of smooth cheek. Kakashi's breathing had turned into quick pants, and with the last three sets, he'd tightened all over before Kimimaro and Iruka could get the last of the flickering flames out.

"Beautiful," Iruka said softly, as applause pattered about them like rain.

 _"Nngh..."_ Kakashi groaned.  "Sir..."

"How are you feeling, my Kakashi?"

Dazed eyes met Iruka's. "Sir?"  Kakashi slowly focused brought himself back together again.  Iruka saw the effort it took to swallow.  "Feel... it burns, Sir.  Slow... deeper, though, than a flogger. Not as sharp as the single-tail, but..."  Kakashi pulled against his wrist restraints, and Iruka licked Kakashi's dry lips. "I'm gonna feel this tomorrow.  I know that. It's good, Sir."

Iruka nodded. "Thank you, Kashi.  Let me give you something..."

He turned to the table, and picked up a lab squirt bottle with a hooked nozzle.  Kakashi's eyes flickered, and he braced against the cross, but Iruka brought the nozzle to Kakashi's lips.

_"Ohh..."_

Iruka smiled as water flowed, and Kakashi drank greedily and with obvious enjoyment. The lack of inhibition on Kakashi's part was good. A clear sign that Kakashi was losing himself to what was going on.

"My most excellent Kashi," Iruka whispered and brushed the back of his fingers against Kakashi's cheek.

The sigh that flowed from Kakashi's lungs relaxed the muscular man against the steel.  "Thank you, Sir."

Iruka stole a single, sweet kiss, and then took a swallow of cool water himself.  He proffered the bottle to Kimimaro, who indulged with a quick squirt.

"Now, his legs," Iruka breathed. Kakashi groaned, head tossing as much as possible, but he couldn't do anything about his spread-eagle stance. "And I'd like to add that little kicker you spoke of, Kakashi."

Mismatched eyes flickered up to Iruka's, and Kakashi started cursing, steadily but without much hope of anything changing. None of the words were the ones that they'd agreed on, but Iruka thought it also wouldn't hurt to have a small reminder.

"What are your safewords, Kakashi?" 

A struggle flowed across Kakashi's face, and he grimaced once before spitting out. "Dolphin for a time out.  Scarecrow for a full stop."

Iruka nodded and moved in close, half-expecting his own icon to fall from Kakashi's lips.  Instead, Kakashi whispered, "Do as you will, Sir."

"Thank you, Kashi."

Iruka slipped his hands between Kakashi's legs, undoing the buckled crotch from behind. Iruka grabbed a foot long string of inch-wide jelly beads and the bottle of lube.  Kiba's wolf whistle of admiration pierced the air.

"Go, Kakashi!"  Kiba yelled.

"Yeah... think you could take it, dog boy?" Kakashi shot back.

"No way! I'm not enough of an asshole!"  Kiba said cheerfully. 

"You know it!" When half the room dissolved into laughter, Iruka shook his head as Kakashi grinned like a maniac.

Iruka chuckled and knelt before Kakashi. He lubed up the string and his hand and fingers to boot.  He didn't even bother warning Kakashi, when he sank two fingers into Kakashi. 

 _"Nnuhhh..."_ Kakashi's hips couldn't go much of anywhere, but he rocked forward with the thrust.  "Yes... Sir... please..." he pleaded, and Iruka plunged and spread.  Kakashi's harsh breaths cut the air, and the audience might as well have been a wall for all the sound they made, drinking in every grunt, sigh, and moan.

When Iruka was satisfied that Kakashi was stretched enough, he started stuffing the beads in as quickly as Kakashi could take them.  Listening to the rising pitch of Kakashi's cries as each one stretched his entrance and disappeared, Iruka slowed for the last two beads.  He had to forcibly hold the last one in place as Kakashi helplessly thrashed and a murmur like the sea rose from those that watched.

"G--got... got it, Sir," Kakashi finally croaked, while his arms trembled and his legs shook.  "Got it."

"Good Kashi, excellent Kashi," Iruka murmured. "Kimimaro, please stand by his side and hold him.  No, kiss him, distract him while I fasten this all in place."

Whimpering in surprise, Kakashi cried out when Kimimaro devoured his mouth, and then met the kiss with every ounce of desperation he held.

"That's it. Perfect, Kimi, tug a bit on the nipple clamps too."

The hiss of pain accompanied a buck of legs, and ended with Kakashi's garbled cry, caught by too many things in too many directions.  Iruka seated the handle of the string of beads in the anchoring hole in the leather crotch, and buckled it all into place. He tugged up on the waistband of the briefs.

"Oh fuck, oh _God_.  Oh Christ. that's... _ohhhhh_..." Kakashi fought his bindings for a rough few seconds.

"Kashi.  Kakashi, I'm here. I've got you," Iruka murmured.  He kept going with a sing-song of assurances, and reached up to take Kakashi's bound hand.  Strong fingers nearly broke Iruka's, and Kakashi clung to him as if to a lifeline.  "I'm here.  I'm here.  I'm here."

Iruka kept up the words until Kakashi finally leaned back against the cross, panting and breathless, and his eyes tightly closed.

"Breathe, Kashi.  Just breathe deep and slow..."

Kakashi's chest heaved, and he cried out as something moved within him. "Sir... please..."

"You can do it, Kashi.  Just relax.  Let it take you... let it just be a part of you..."

"Fuck you, Sir, with all respect. I just..."  Kakashi groaned again, fought, and then melted against his bonds.  "Oh shit... yeah.  Please... the fire.  Try the fire now.  Any fucking place you want, Sir. Just need..."

Kakashi was drowning, and Iruka knew this was the time to take advantage of it.

He gave a quick look to Kimimaro and blessed every submissive inch of the slender acrobat when Kimimaro read Iruka's mind and came over with both torches aflame.  Pulling free of Kakashi's iron grip on his hand, Iruka took them and ran them down the outsides of Kakashi's legs. For all that Kimi was willing and knowledgeable, he'd loaded too much alcohol on both of them, and rivulets of flame spilled and tumbled down the bound slopes of Kakashi's thighs.

Someone screamed.  Kimimaro dove for the towel at Kakashi's feet, and Iruka dropped the torches and swiped his hands down both of Kakashi's legs. There was too much fuel to put it all out with the one motion.  Flames engulfed Iruka's left hand, and he used it to wipe as much fuel and flame from Kakashi's skin as he could before he whipped the flame off that hand. It was a motion identical to the one he'd used to save his hand before, and he heard Kakashi grunt and the cross creaked when the pain of the remaining flickers of flame bit and Kakashi's reflexes hit the restrains.

Then Kimimaro landed on Kakashi with the towel.

A sigh of relief came up from the audience, and to Iruka's irritation, Neji got up as if to go to the stage.  He stopped when Iruka _looked_ at him, the hesitation turned into a slow return to his seat, but Iruka had other things to pay attention to. He picked up both of the burning torches that were scorching the planks of the stage floor.  He stamped the few remaining flickers from the small puddles of alcohol, and then looked up at Kakashi, who was watching him while panting in the aftermath.  Kimimaro was still wrapped about Kakashi's leg with the white cotton of the towel glowing in the UV.

"Kakashi?" Iruka asked breathlessly.

"Sir?" Kakashi sounded half-drunk, the way he usually did when deep under submission and pain.  "S'good, Sir.  Can... can you... want that again?"

Not bothering to try and translate that into straight English, Iruka nodded. "Yes, let's try that again."

"Sir. Yes, Sir." 

The snap to the answer bolstered Iruka in a way nothing else could.  Iruka blew out both torches, squeezed the excess from them, and looked up as Kimimaro came up to him, mouth opening to a flood of apologizes. Iruka placed a hand that reeked of alcohol across the startled Kimimaro's mouth.  Kimimaro coughed and stopped saying sorry.

"It's okay, Kimimaro," Iruka stated more surely than he felt. "He wants more.  It didn't hurt him..."

Outrage flashed across Kimi's eyes before a tear suddenly welled and fell. Iruka removed his hand.  "Master Iruka, I made a horrible mistake that could have endangered..."

"Yes, you did." Iruka let the bald statement lie between them, and saw Kimimaro shrink in, but he caught Kimimaro's gaze with his own. "I forgive you because you didn't let your horror about what you did get in the way of getting the towel or in the way of saving the very man you endangered.  I forgive you your mistake, or else I could not forgive myself my own.  Do you understand?"

Kimimaro nodded, wide-eyed. "Yes, Master Iruka."

"Then get on with it. Fire would make fools of us all, but Kakashi and I will not allow it to have it way with us. Do what I would have you do. All three of us will finish this Scene."

Startling them both, Kakashi cackled from where he hung from the cross. "That's my Sir. Let's do this..."

Iruka smiled. "Yes. Let's."  Then he lit both torches.

All the more aware of the dangers possible, the three of them forged ahead and created something no one would ever forget.  At first, Iruka repeated the trails of fire along Kakashi's legs, gauging the extent of the damage to be not nearly as bad as he'd feared, or else Kakashi was fooling even Iruka with his ability to take pain.  Once assured that he wouldn't scar Kakashi, Iruka worked with long, graceful curves that ran the length of Kakashi's body.

Kimimaro followed religiously with his own bare hands, and Iruka had half a mind to check those palms after, to make sure that Kimimaro hadn't been burned as well.  But the lines, lengthening and lingering, caused Kakashi more and more pain, until Kakashi writhed with it. Kakashi's breathed in hoarse gasps when Iruka finally stopped.

"Please... Sir... God... just...." Kimimaro ran a cold cloth down Kakashi's arm.  _"Nnnngh... shit!_   Oh God... can you... want... _fuck!"_   The curse came with Iruka placing an iced hand on Kakashi's shoulder, and Kakashi flinched. "Damn it, Sir...."

It was as close as Kakashi ever got to a safeword, more of a delirious swirl of desire, frustration and need fused with the pain he craved. For Iruka getting Kakashi there was headier than wine, better than riches, and more satisfying than anything in existence.

"One more, my sweet Kashi.  One more, and Kimimaro and I will get you down and get you to our room."

 _"Uuuhh..._ God... all right, Sir."  Kakashi's head dropped, and Iruka was floored by how Kakashi could just turn everything over to him. "Anything for you, Sir."

"Thank you, my Kashi."

Quickly, Iruka pulled out a brush of exact dimensions to paint alcohol all over Kakashi's body in simple patterns of bold arches, quick lines. Then Iruka lit the juggling torch. The orange red flames of the kerosene-fueled torch now appeared unimaginably bright and hot in comparison to the cool blue of the alcohol flames.

The crowd gave a collective moan, and Iruka saw the glitter of Kakashi's eyes reflecting the swirling flame. Iruka swept circles of brilliance about them both. He created a two-winged butterfly of heat and light that roared as he ringed them both in fire. Iruka slowed, swung barely close to the base of his design at the level of Kakashi's knees, and Kakashi went up in curves and lines of flame.

The heat bit, Kakashi's body jerked. Iruka watched, fascinated as Kakashi's thigh muscles tightened in reflex, which set off a chain reaction with the huge beads shoved deep into his body.  Kakashi arched, slammed himself against the cross even with only the inch of give he had, and then howled in a sound that mixed rage, lust, and pain.

Nearly half the audience stood up along with Iruka's cock.

Iruka had carefully calculated the amount of alcohol through the size of the brush, so Kakashi could not be burnt any deeper than a first degree sunburn. Still, Iruka waited until he could see the very first flames flickering out themselves before he signaled Kimimaro to use the whole of the wet towel on Kakashi, to smother the last of the flames.

Kakashi gave a shuddering cry when the cold cloth slapped onto heated skin, but it ended in a sigh of relief.  Then Kakashi hung limp against the cross, letting the restraints support him as he sagged.  Iruka snuffed the juggling torch by thrusting it into a bucket of its fuel, the last snap and crackle a prelude to cool, quiet darkness. It was a spectacular ending, and Iruka needed to tell no one that it was actually safer than anything that had gone before.

The audience roared with approval.  Gaara brought the house lights up, and Iruka swept a bow that ended with a flourish in Kakashi's direction and the applause grew all the louder as everyone got to their feet.

Quickly, Iruka went to Kakashi and began freeing him by unhooking Kakashi's collar. The links had bitten into throat and collarbones, and Iruka gently stroked the abused skin.  Kimimaro reached for Kakashi's hands, and Iruka said. "Feet first, I want him to have support until he's free."

Wordlessly, Kimimaro knelt to unfasten the calf nearest him.

"Remove the cuffs as well. We won't need them where we're going."

"Aye, Master Iruka."

Kakashi didn't open his eyes or his mouth for a quip or comment, and Iruka didn't want to pull Kakashi out of whatever headspace he was now in.  So Iruka bent to get the leg restraint on his side.  To Iruka's relief, Kakashi put weight evenly on both feet when they were free.  Kakashi wasn't unconscious or even completely out of his head.

Just to get a feel of where Kakashi was, Iruka ran his hands up Kakashi's leg, flank, side, and arm.  The arousal under Kakashi's leather briefs was unmistakable, and Iruka was further reassured.  Kakashi's skin felt heated to the touch, and Kakashi hissed when Iruka touched ticklish bits, but didn't try to pull away. Sensitive, but not unduly painful.

One blue eye opened when Iruka laid lips on the warm skin of Kakashi's shoulder.

"Sir..." Kakashi whispered, before licking his lips and trying to swallow.

Without a word, Iruka took the water bottle from the table, set the nozzle to Kakashi's lips and watched as Kakashi craned his neck in clear anticipation.  Half a beat, and Kakashi's eyes met Iruka's in question. When Iruka looked back, Kakashi's gaze dropped in acknowledgment and the kind of surrender that Iruka could not resist. Iruka squeezed the bottle and let liquid flow.  Kakashi whimpered in eagerness, tongue reaching, possibly without his volition, throat working as he swallowed.  Iruka loved being the source of both Kakashi's pains and pleasures in this arena.

"Good, Kashi," Iruka murmured. "Excellent, my love."

Kakashi's breath shook when he let it out. "Thank you, Sir."

Kimimaro made a small sound that almost sounded like pain.  Both Iruka and Kakashi turned to look at Kimimaro. 

"What is it, Kimi?" Iruka asked.

"You two..."  Kimimaro stopped helplessly, eyes wide and wondering.  "You're so..."

"So sappy?" Kakashi rasped, harsh, caught out in an emotion that rarely saw public light.

"No!  No no no..." Kimimaro's emphatic return took Kakashi aback, Iruka could see, and Iruka didn't feel quite so much like throwing arms around Kakashi or hitting him. "You two... you _love_ each other, in ways most people can't even dream of doing.  In every exchange, every touch, every word..." Kimimaro shuddered. "It's amazing."

"It is." Neji stepped up on the stage.  "Professor, if you ever are inclined to..."

"I'm sorry, Neji," Iruka cut in before Kakashi could even take a breath in protest.  "My days as a professional dominant are long over.  I do not..."

"... bring your submissive back on the public stage again. I'd appreciate it if you would consider teaching a class in fire play for those who wish to attempt what you did."  Neji finished smoothly, gray eyes calm and watching.

Kakashi wheezed a laugh.

"Kimi, please undo Kakashi's wrist cuffs and catch him when he falls," Iruka said to give Kimi something to do as the kid looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"I am not going to..." Kakashi started.

"Lean on Kimi anyway, Kakashi," Iruka stated, careful not to let his tone bite too hard. "Or I will be displeased."

Kakashi chuckled again, "Yes, Sir."

Iruka turned back to Neji. "Give me a little time, but I would be honored to teach a class on the techniques. However, it may be without your designated victim."  The cough from Kakashi made the whole exchange worthwhile.

"Of course, of course." Neji bowed gently. "Thank you for the exquisite performance of the night then, and I am grateful you allowed me to assist."

"Thank you, Neji." Iruka had no qualms about conceding that to Neji, the advice had been very useful. "I am thankful for both Kimimaro's hands and the limited nature of the engagement."

"It was my pleasure," Neji murmured before neatly turning away and going back to where Shikamaru awaited his return.

Kimimaro now had Kakashi gracefully draped over one narrow shoulder.  They looked to Iruka like a puppy trying to hold up a very battered tomcat, and Iruka smiled at his mental images as he slipped under Kakashi's other arm.  To Iruka's pleasure, Kakashi didn't even make a sound of protest, just leaned gratefully against Iruka's side.  Iruka stroked Kakashi's arm, squeezing gently, and Kakashi sighed.

The three of them walked toward Kakashi's private room in the Catacombs of Break.  No one else accosted them on their way, most deciding not to intrude on what everyone would think of as the post-Scene aftercare of Kakashi.

Abel, however, waved to them as they passed, his satisfaction and approval of his beaming face. 

 _Thank you,_ Iruka mouthed, and Abel saluted them all with a crisp snap of wrist.

Kakashi chuckled and Iruka could feel it from where he was pressed against Kakashi, and they passed silently from the great room into the Catacombs in the depths of the hallways of Break.  The owners' private rooms were in the back, and Kakashi pressed a thumb to the lock, and the door swung open silently.

"The bed, please, Kimi," Kakashi said.

Kimimaro peeked at Iruka from around Kakashi, and Iruka chuckled. "It's his room, Kimi, let's get him to a nice, soft surface."

"That would be Heaven, Sir," Kakashi said faintly.  "Without the harps or clouds, please.  Would make me queasy to think about being that far up without a parachute."

"Do you want your promise, and then a cool shower and aloe?" Iruka was careful in his phrasing of the question. "Or do you want to take care of the cleaning up first?"

Kakashi glanced at Kimimaro, who politely turned toward the door. "Just a second, Kimi..."

Kimimaro stopped and waited, patiently.

"I'll wait on the cleanup, Sir, if that's all right."

"Of course."

"Kimi?" Kakashi swayed as he took half a step from Iruka, and Iruka had to squash the impulse to catch him.

Kakashi held out his hands to Kimimaro, and Kimi stepped before the gray-haired man to take both of them. Kimimaro's slender digits were engulfed by Kakashi's scarred hands.

"Thank you," Kakashi said soberly. "Thank you for taking care of me when I needed it most, and for watching my back when I couldn't."

"Y-you're... you're most welcome... Master Kakashi, and..."  Kimimaro didn't even bother hiding the tears that suddenly poured from his eyes.  "... and I would do..."  Kimimaro caught himself visibly trying to get a grip. "Anything you wished."

"Well, right now..." Kakashi smiled and moved one hand so that it gripped Kimimaro's chin. "Right now, I think I'd like you to go back to your Master and get a couple of drinks on me for your whole family.  In thanks for your service, Kimi."

Kakashi's obviously gentle deflection of Kimi's ardor did the trick, and Kimimaro drew a deep breath and wiped away the tears. "Yes, Master Kakashi, I shall partake of your generosity."  The slender man gave both of them a shy smile, bowed, and walked out the door, shutting it silently behind him.

As soon as the door was closed, Kakashi took shaky steps to the bed, fell back on it, and then winced, hips rolling.  " _Nnngh..._ Gods, Sir... you should be proud of me.  Getting fucked by you when I'm dodging the damned beautiful bullets you're throw at me."

"Mm... I think he was throwing himself quite well without any help from me. I was admiring your technique, my Kashi."

Kakashi chuckled, reaching on hand up toward Iruka, who shucked the mesh shirt, toed off his shoes and socks, and started peeling off his damnable leather pants. The vibrator control for the string of beads still in Kakashi's ass was in the pocket of Iruka pants. He fished out the little remote.  Kakashi's eyes went white around the edges just in time for Iruka to thumb it on.

" _Aaaaahhh... fuck, Sir!_ "  Kakashi bent like a bow, and then helpless sounds started spilling from his parted lips.  The tip of his cock crested the waistband of his leather briefs, and Iruka took a moment to savor the sight of his lover so undone.

"Yes, my Kashi, you're about to do that to me, just as I promised," Iruka said as evenly as he could.  He climbed out of his pants, and bent where Kakashi thrashed on the sheets. Iruka undid the panel of Kakashi's underwear, pulled the handle of the beads from where it was anchored, and then yanked the underwear down Kakashi's narrow hips.  Kakashi tried to help, but let out another garbled plea when attempting to rise up.

" _Nnngh... God,_ ah Christ... goddamned motherfucker, Sir!"

Iruka slicked Kakashi's tip with the pre-come flowing over it to a hiss of breath and another sobbing cry.  Iruka slipped out of his underwear, and bent a little to reach between his own cheeks, letting Kakashi see everything he was doing.  Kakashi's whimpers made Iruka grin, as Iruka got a firm grip of the flat base of the butt plug he'd been wearing, having prepped back at home, and pulled, closing his eyes when he felt the stretch as it slid from his body.

" _Oh Christ_... shit, Sir, shit that's...."

Kakashi's hands balled into fists.  It was expressly forbidden for him to get himself off without Iruka's command, and Iruka saw Kakashi's cock twitch and drip. 

"Good, Kashi.  No touching yourself, I'll be doing that for you."

Kakashi thrashed again. The bottle of lube was right by the bed, and Iruka slathered a good deal of it on Kakashi's cock.  Using lube to probe and tease himself, as a show for Kakashi, Iruka drank in all the sounds before he got on the bed and straddled Kakashi.

"You may press up into me while I do this, Kakashi," Iruka reminded Kakashi.  "After all, my ass is yours to claim. I remember our bargain."

Groaning, Kakashi tensed when Iruka placed the tip of Kakashi's diamond hard cock on Iruka's entrance.  Iruka lowered himself, pushing to get Kakashi in past the ring, and felt the bump and clutch when Kakashi's head entered, and finally the incredible stretch and glide of Kakashi's shaft as it filled him. 

 _"Nnnnaaaahhh!"_ Iruka yelled earnest when Kakashi impaled Iruka with an insistent thrust.  The butt plug had done its work, worn that long, the internal muscles were already loosened, and didn't reject Kakashi.

Still, all sense of Iruka's reality was annihilated as Kakashi tried to fuck Iruka's brains out.  Iruka gripped any part of Kakashi's body he could reach, hanging on as best as he was able, while Kakashi bucked and snarled and cursed with each sliding jab into Iruka.  At one point, Iruka had his forehead pressed against Kakashi's shoulder, and he could see Kakashi's cock between his own legs, pistoning up into Iruka's ass.

That was when Iruka realized that Kakashi was chanting something in his ear.

"Oh fuck, oh shit, goddamnit, Sir.  Please please please may I come?  Please Sir, please may I come?  Oh Christ, Sir.  Please, please..."

Iruka sobbed for air when he slid again down Kakashi's shaft, feeling it fill him to the back of his throat.  Kakashi was grinding into him so deeply, it felt like the top of his head was going to come off with the pounding.  Iruka loved it and let it go on until he heard Kakashi's words devolve into a singsoug snarl of curses and cries.

"Kashi. Now," Iruka spit out. 

Kakashi slammed into Iruka so hard, Iruka nearly whited out, and Iruka clutched Kakashi's arm and side so tightly he knew he was going to leave bruises for the next week. They screamed together as Kakashi's hips jerked half a dozen times, and then Kakashi came in great shuddering gasps.  Iruka fell onto Kakashi as his arms gave way.

Iruka lay there, still connected, dizzy and fighting to get his breath back.  "Oh God... oh God, oh dear God," Iruka gasped.

Kakashi clutched Iruka tight in hug and then fell loose, trembling under Iruka.  "S-sir... oh shit, Sir..." 

Gradually their breathing started slowing, synching with their bodies entwined. Sweat cooled and heart rates lowered, and Iruka fumbled the remote before turning off the vibrator and listening as the whimpers fell away from Kakashi's breathing. 

Then, sleepily, Kakashi murmured, "Sir, you didn't get off."

"No, no I didn't, my Kashi," Iruka said peacefully, already half wondering if he could just fall asleep right there.  Reluctantly, he knew it would be a real mess when the woke, but some part of him just couldn't care. "I'm all right with that."

"You... can't... can't do that, Sir... I'll just..."  Kakashi rolled them both over, and Iruka couldn't help but laugh at the loose flail of sweaty limbs and limp bodies.  He smiled up at a shaky looking Kakashi who kissed Iruka's nose.

"Let me, sir... even I have to do it sprawled across your legs..." Kakashi grunted in exhausted resolve and slid down Iruka.

Iruka didn't protest, just closed his eyes and felt Kakashi's touch, surprisingly delicate and tender on Iruka's firm shaft. Iruka enjoyed the sensation of anal sex, but didn't get off on it the way Kakashi could.  It just seemed to be a separate set of sexual responses so far as Iruka was concerned, he didn't mind not getting off, and any erection would go down soon enough with just time and no one tending it.

But it was pleasant to have Kakashi bend and lay lips to Iruka's tip, Kakashi's fingers delicately stroked Iruka's ball sac and gently ringed need-swollen glands. The wet roughness of Kakashi's tongue lapped at the head of Iruka's cock, and Iruka rocked when Kakashi took Iruka into his mouth.  The soft surfaces, the edges of teeth, and the slick press of the walls of Kakashi's throat and friction of sliding further in made Iruka grab headboard, body arching as tension built with each suck and smack of Kakashi's lips and gasp for breath.

Then two fingers slid into Iruka's wide open entrance, crooked, and Iruka cried out as Kakashi pressed against prostate. The pressure of orgasm smashed through the eggshell of control Iruka had left, and he pumped into Kakashi's mouth, over Kakashi's fingers, and came.

"Oh God, oh God, oh... God..." Iruka stammered and then panted as he melted into soiled sheets.  He fumbled at Kakashi's shoulder, and Kakashi chuckled and slithered up Iruka to hug him solidly

"Oh Lord, Kakashi..." Iruka murmured. "That... wasn't part... of the deal..."

"No, Sir, but it's part of my contract," Kakashi said smugly.

"What?" Iruka asked, still dazed, as Kakashi pressed light kisses against Iruka's shoulder before biting the swell of it.

"If you get me off, I return favors. It's only fair, so I added it in the phrasing of the contract you signed when I took on this collar, Sir.  Don't you remember that?" Kakashi teased.

"And if I deny you release for... say... a week?" Iruka asked as his brain finally started firing on more than just the one in-and-out cylinder, and felt it stutter again with Kakashi's moan of desire.

"Well, it didn't say _you_ had to deny yourself if you denied me, Sir.  Just... love it when I can get you back." Kakashi murmured, and Iruka felt the grin against his skin. 

Iruka threaded his fingers through Kakashi's wild hair, combing and gently tugging against tangles.  Kakashi sighed and melted against Iruka's body. 

"What did you think of the scene, my Kashi?"

"Mm... will be able to tell you more after a night's sleep, but..."  Kakashi paused.  "It was good.  Better than I thought getting toasted would be.  I'm going to feel it for weeks, I think... especially where the spill happened, but..."

Iruka let Kakashi think, not interrupting him.

"But I like having a reminder of what you do for me.  I'd do it again.  Especially if it were in the privacy of our own place. I liked... liked seeing you, intent on me and the flames.  You, when you're concentrating that hard."  Kakashi deliberately rutted against Iruka's hip. "You're even hotter than the fire."

Iruka smiled and kissed Kakashi's hair. "Good to know, my love."

They just lay there for a long moment, and Kakashi sighed.  "Sorry, Sir, but I'm going to have to..."

"Yes." Iruka grunted. "Let's get cleaned up."

Leather cuffs, beads, and everything else was removed and put away where they could be cleaned the next day.  Iruka made Kakashi drink another glassful of water, before they stepped into a cool shower together. A quick dry down, teeth brushing, and new sheets later (Iruka blessed Break's housekeeping and laundry staff), they slid into bed with a sigh.

Iruka chuckled. "I have one last thing planned, my Kashi."

"Oh?" Kakashi's raised eyebrow was wary.

"Lie on your back, please."  Iruka settled, straddling Kakashi's torso again.  "Arms above your head."

Kakashi groaned in part exasperation and part exhaustion.  "Sir, please..."

"Now."

Kakashi reluctantly did as asked.  Iruka squirted a palmful of aloe vera gel onto his palm.

"What..?"  Kakashi began, and then gasped when Iruka set both gel-covered palms on pinked skin and slathered the cooling, slick stuff all over Kakashi's burnt skin. Kakashi's skin was so dry, it sucked the gel in, and Iruka went with a second coat on shoulders, arms, chest, and thighs before he finally closed the bottle with a click and set it on the side table.

Kakashi turned onto his side and beckoned Iruka into his arms. Iruka slid in neatly, Kakashi's skin still a little slippery where the gel hadn't all absorbed, yet. 

"Got you, Sir," Kakashi said smugly, and hugged Iruka to him. 

"Yes, my Kashi," Iruka said, as content washed all through him. "Yes, yes you do."

_Finis_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to Seattle's CSPACE for the chance to experience fire play, first hand. It really shaped my ideas of what can be used for play. Also many thanks to Darkprism for her permission to use her versions of these characters.


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